Soon, a few refugees may be able to call this house ‘home’
Juha Sipilä, Finland's Prime Minister, said he doesn't often use his home in Kempele, in northern Finland, and could offer it to asylum seekers as early as the beginning of next year.
For a few politicians and celebrities, the refugee crisis just got personal.
While citizens are calling on their governments to make decisions about what to do with the hundreds of thousands of refugees streaming over borders in Europe, a few big names have stepped up and offered their own homes.
Gimmick or not, these public figures have opened their own doors. We’ll see if any of them get taken up on their offer.
Related story: How to help Syrian refugees? These 6 groups you may not know are doing important work
1. Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's first minister
Nicola Sturgeon has been vocal about her opnion that Scotland should accept 1,000 people as a "starting point for a meaningful discussion." She's also created a task force to coordinate her county's response to the international humanitarian crisis — although UK Prime Minister David Cameron will make the final decision.
When pressed further on the subject in an interview with Sky News, Sturgeon also offered her own home, a townhouse in Edinburgh where all Scottish first ministers are housed known as the Bute House.
2. Bob Geldof, musician
In an interview with The Guardian, musician Bob Geldof said he views the crisis and his country's reponse to it with "a profound shame." Geldof, who founded the Live Aid movement 30 years ago to help with African starvation, added that he and his wife of six months, Jeanne Marine, could take in four refugee families immediately.
"I'm prepared, I'm lucky. I have a place in Kent and a flat in London. Me and Jeanne would be prepared to take three families immediately in our place in Kent and a family in our flat in London, immediately, and put them up until such time as they can get going and get a purchase of their own."
3. Yvette Cooper, British politician
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary and Labour leadership contender, was asked shortly before Sturgeon whether she would be prepared to accept a refugee in her own home.
"If that's what it took and that's what was needed, then of course. I think lots of people would be," she told Sky News. "But I think what I've been calling for is for each city and each county to support 10 refugee families. I think we can do that, I think we've got a lot of people across the country coming forward now and saying, 'Do you know what? We want to help.'"
4. Juha Sipilä, Finnish prime minister
Juha Sipilä, Finland's millionaire prime minister, said he would make his house in Kempele, in Northern Finland, available to refugees from early 2016.
The Kempele house is Sipilä's third house, as he has a government residence as well as a personal house near the capital of Helsinki. As a result, he said the third house is usually empty.
"I hope this becomes some kind of people's movement that will inspire many to shoulder part of the burden in this refugee housing crisis," he said in an interview with YLE, the national broadcaster. "What we need now is a show of compassion."
5. Pope Francis
Pope Francis is likely offering housing for the greatest number of refugees, as he has called on every European parish, religious community, monastary and sanctuary to take in at least one refugee family.
Personally, the pope said he would shelter at least two families in the Vatican, but offered little detail on how they would be chosen.
“Faced with the tragedy of tens of thousands of refugees fleeing war, death, and hunger, who are on their way toward life’s hope, the Gospel calls us to be near to the smallest and abandoned,” he said.
6. George Ferguson, British politican
If Bristol Mayor George Ferguson actually ends up taking in refugees, it wouldn't be the first time. When he was in his 20s, his family took in a three-generation family of Asians from Uganda forced out by Idi Amin.
Speaking to NPR, Ferguson said he recently saw one of the sons who had lived with him back in the 1970s. Today, he said, the man — who is now in his 40s — is contributing to the local economy and culture of Bristol.
"I think it was a big learning experience," he said. "I may have a very different experience this time around. I just don't know. It's like a little dive into the unknown, and I think that's what makes life interesting."
Are we missing anyone? Let us know about any other familiar faces that should be included in the comments below.
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